Page 4 of Two Is Better Than One

"Hello," he said. I looked at him, and he smiled. "It's not a bad setup you have here."

The hotel lady laughed, breaking my concentration. "No, it's one of our finest rooms," she said.

Brooks handed her some cash and she bowed and took it. I knew he would wrap up with her, so I turned my attention to the other man—the one who had spoken. I had been to this hotel before. I had stayed in this exact room. I knew he had come from the direction of the master bedroom—my bedroom. This man had long hair that was pulled back, away from his face. He glanced at Brooks, and I saw that it was in a bun. It wasn't combed tightly, and it was just curly enough for little tendrils of it to come loose out of the back. He looked wild in the most attractive way possible. I was slightly scared of him, honestly. He had a scrape on his cheek and his arm was in a sling. His face was gorgeous and smooth, but it looked like he had been in a brawl, and I made a face of caution at him.

Speaking quietly, I said, "That's my bedroom area back there." I had my eyes open wide, letting the mysterious security guard know I wasn't scared of him, even though I was, a little.

"Okay," he said, being so calm it was annoying.

I cleared my throat and smiled as I glanced at the lady from the hotel as she made her way out of the door, then I turned back to him. "I don't know what business you had back there," I said.

The guy flinched like he was taken aback by my rudeness. "Hello to you, too. My business is that I came here to protect one of you, and that's what I was doing by walking through the suite. If you didn't want me to scan the room, you shouldn't have asked me to meet you up here."

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm… I just don't know you, and the first thing I find is you coming out of my…" I trailed off distractedly, staring at his muscular arm, which was tucked in front of him. "Your arm is in a sling."

"I know."

Brooks came around my back and said something to my sister. I was vaguely aware of them, but neither of them interrupted my conversation.

"You're the person we hired to work security? Are you effective as a security guard?" I gestured at his sling.

His face twitched a little like he might be holding back a smile. "No offense to your normal security guard or anything, because I'm sure he's a great guy, but I have no problem with personal security. I'm just resting my arm as part of the physical therapy, but I'm plenty effective, I promise. My name's Casey Morgan. It's nice to meet you all."

"Sorry, I had to pay Allie back for that tip, " Brooks said, tuning in to our conversation. "Casey's normal job is with the military or something. He's high-up. I forgot to tell you that. He's on leave from work while he's healing this injury, and he kindly agreed to help us out."

I glanced at Brooks who smiled regretfully at me like he was sorry he forgot to share those details. The military was the last thing I expected with someone who looked like this guy. He was built like he could be in the military, but his haircut was far from military issue. I would have never dreamed he was a soldier.

"I'm sorry if you're a sergeant or something like that," I said. "I meant no disrespect. My grandfather was in the military."

"It's fine," he said. "I'm not a sergeant." He took a step back and stood as if he was about to address Brooks. "There are three bedrooms, and there's three of you," he said to him. "I assume you'll each be in one. I'll stay outside in the hall until one of you need me, or you need to go somewhere. I told Lila I can work up to six hours a day. I guess she told you that."

"Six hours?" I asked.

"We can make it with six," Brooks said. "Honestly, if you'll just get us started this week, I'm going straight to finding someone new. We do owe you thanks for coming, though, no matter how many hours." Brooks shook Casey's hand. "I'm the one who emailed you," Brooks explained. Casey nodded like he figured that. "I have Summer's itinerary for the next week. She might like to go shopping or to the beach or something like that, and usually, we all go together. This is Summer, and her sister Allie."

I waved at Casey when Brooks introduced us. I was captivated instantly.

"You can rest up. I'll get your boxes into your rooms in a bit," Brooks made the statement, dismissing Allie and myself, and assuming we didn't want anything to do with giving Casey the run-down.

I felt suddenly self-conscious about misjudging him when we first came in. I was fresh off of being creeped out by Russ, and I didn't know what to think of him coming out of the bedroom. I was sorry to have made a bad impression—especially if he was some kind of injured war hero.

My sister took off, headed for her bedroom, but I wasn't so quick to walk away. "How did you get hurt? What happened to your arm? Did that happen in the military?"

The guy glanced at me slowly. He was so calm and patient that he made me feel hyper and antsy.

"I'm just wondering how you got hurt."

"I was in a fight," he said, staring at me with a neutral expression.

"Is that all you're going to tell me about it?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. He gazed at me with his mesmerizing hazel eyes. They were brown, green, and gold, and they looked like staring into a treasure chest. The guy looked like a pirate. A ruggedly handsome, perfect pirate. Was there a such thing as a perfect pirate? I asked myself. I wondered as I always did, if there was a song in that. I was in the middle of writing, and I always looked for inspiration. I decided within a few seconds that writing about a pirate would be absolutely cheesy, and this guy was anything but cheesy.

"I know you're exhausted, Summer. Is there anything I can get you before I go over your schedule with Casey?"

"No, I don't guess," I said. I had just been standing there staring at Casey, and I needed the push from Brooks.

I walked away, headed into the bedroom. I left, but I had no closure. I didn't like to make a bad first impression on people. I told myself to shrug it off. I knew I would have time to rectify it. He would be with me for two weeks, after all.

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